Colossians-Introduction-Canonicity, Literary Genre, Style, and Authorship
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday November 23, 2014
Colossians: Introduction-Canonicity, Literary Genre, Literary Style, and Authorship
Lesson # 1
The apostle Paul’s epistle to the Colossians is a fascinating epistle which contains some of the most significant Christological passages.
It is one of Paul’s shortest letters and is considered by the church throughout her history as being one of four “prison epistles.”
The other three are Philemon, Philippians and Ephesians.
As we will note, Colossians and Philemon were written around the same time.
Tychicus delivered the Colossian epistle to its recipients as well as delivering Philemon to its recipient.
Paul’s epistle to the Colossians has quite a bit about to say regarding the importance of the gospel as well as the person and work of Jesus Christ especially in regards to creation and the reconciliation of fallen creation to God through His finished work on the cross.
This letter also speaks of the Christian’s union and position in Christ which is followed by exhortations to appropriate this position in Christ in order to experience victory over sin.
Appropriating by faith one’s position in Christ produces godly conduct.
The Colossian epistle presents the supremacy of Christ more than any other of Paul’s epistles.
In fact, Colossians 1:15-20 is often scrutinized by scholars.
Paul inserts this hymnic section in order to communicate to the Colossian church practical implications for the spiritual life of the church since one’s view of Christ will determine the manner in which one lives their life.
The Colossian epistle has often been cited by theologians and pastors in the church throughout her history to protect the church from legalism and false doctrine.
Colossians has been considered a part of the New Testament canon as evidenced by the fact it is contained in the canon lists from the very beginning of canon lists.
It appears in the heretic Marcion’s list and in the Muratorian Canon.
It is also found in the Syriac and Old Latin versions and in addition it is cited by Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian.
There has not been any question with regards to the letter’s canonicity in early church history so that she has not had any problem recognizing it as inspired by God.
This letter to the Colossians is written according to the pattern of letter writing found in the ancient world during the first century called the “epistle.”
The epistle is among the oldest forms of communication.
In fact, the epistle is among the oldest and most abundantly preserved types of texts that we have today from the ancient world.
The general form of a first century letter contained the following elements: (1) The author identifies himself (2) The author identifies the recipient (3) The greeting (4) Main body of the epistle (5) Closing greeting (usually a simple word wishing the recipient good health) (6) Final signature of endorsement by the writer of the letter.
The final signature of endorsement authenticated the letter’s contents and served as protection against fraudulent correspondence.
The final signature was also important because frequently an amanuensis was employed to write the letter.
Paul’s letters in the New Testament generally followed the same pattern of letter writing found in the first and second centuries.
His introduction found in Colossians follows exactly the formula of this period.
In Colossians, Paul follows the correct chronological order of a first century letter’s introduction: (1) The author identifies himself first (2) Then he identifies the recipient of the letter (3) Then he gives a greeting.
It follows the usual Pauline letter structure (1) Opening (1:1-2) (2) (2) Thanksgiving (1:3-12) (3) Body of letter (1:13-4:6) (4) Closing (4:7-18).
There was a constant exchange of letters in the early first century churches.
This was by apostolic command.
A good example of this procedure is found in the letter to the Colossians.
The letter to the Colossians was meant not only to be read by the believers in Colossae but also in Laodicea and in turn the letter to the Laodiceans was meant not only for the believers in Laodicea but was also to be read by the Colossians (Col. 4:16).
Two of the most striking features of Paul’s epistle to the Colossians is the hymn to Christ in Colossians 1:15-20 and household duties in Colossians 3:18-4:1.
The former is lyrical in style and is divided into two stanzas.
It forms one of the two highest praises of Jesus Christ in the New Testament canon with the other being of course Philippians 2:6-11.
The latter emphasizes the death and exaltation of Christ whereas the Colossians 1:15-20 affirms the fact that He is the creator of the universe as well as the church.
Colossians 3:18-4:1 parallels Ephesians 5:22-6:1 and 1 Peter 2:13-3:7.
The letter to the Colossians explicitly states that the apostle Paul is the writer in that he is named the author in the opening greeting (1:1) and within the body of the letter (1:23) and at its conclusion (4:18).
Some scholars have argued that Colossians is “deutero-Pauline” meaning that they view certain allegedly non-Pauline features of vocabulary, style and theology in this epistle that it was not written by Paul himself but rather by one of his disciples such as Timothy while he was still alive (Dunn 38-39, 105, 117, 169, 171, 192 and esp. 269-270).
They even claim that it could have been written by a member of a so-called Pauline “school” who was well versed in Paul’s theology.
They believe that this individual was dealing with certain theological or pastoral issues with the theology he learned from the apostle.
There are even some scholars who regard Colossians as pseudepigraphic (see M. Kiley, Colossians as Pseudepigraphy [Sheffield: JSOT, 1986]).
This idea that Colossians is “deuteron-Pauline” has been refuted sufficiently by other scholars (see Barth-Blanke 114-26; Moo 28-41; O’Brien xli-xlix).
By far, the most powerful argument in favor of the authenticity of Colossians and that it is Pauline is its close connection to Paul’s epistle to Philemon whose authenticity has never really been questioned or open to serious challenge.
The reason is that both epistles share many common features.
The first of these is that the author of both Philemon and Colossians is in prison (Col. 4:3, 10, 18; Phlm. 9-10, 13).
Secondly Philemon and Colossians both mention the same companions such as Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphras, Luke and Demas (Col. 4:10-14; Phlm. 23-24).
Also, in the opening greetings to both epistles, the name of Timothy is associated with Paul and he is described as ὁ ἀδελφὸς (Col. 1:1; Phlm. 1:1).
Then, in Philemon 2, Archippus is named as an addressee and in Colossians 4:17, the author directs the Colossian church to charge Archippus to fulfill his ministry.
Lastly, Philemon 12 mentions the return of Onesimus to Philemon while Colossians 4:9 refers to his going to Colossae with Tychicus.
Therefore, if Paul authored Philemon and there is no convincing argument raised against its authenticity, it would appear very likely that the apostle Paul also wrote Colossians considering that both epistles share very similar circumstances.
In response to those who claim that the language of Colossians does not resemble other known Pauline letters, it should be noted that Paul could have very well been influenced by the terms and concepts of those teaching false doctrine in Colossae which influenced the terms he used in writing this epistle.
Paul was quite capable of taking the terms of those he opposed and inserting them into his own arguments so as to turn them to his service.
We see this phenomenon in both the Corinthian letters and Galatians.
In Colossians we see Paul’s creativity and flexibility in using the language of the false teachers in Colossae and not evidence against his authorship.
The idea of pseudonymity can’t be taken seriously since the early church was very much concerned about receiving authentic Pauline epistles and would totally reject the practice of pseudonymity.
The early church were very concerned with problems of literary fraud and Paul was too (2 Thessalonians 2:2; Galatians 6:11; Colossians 4:18).
One must remember that Paul never visited Colossae.
What would be the purpose of creating a Pauline letter to this city?